E-DRUG: Vioxx - another block buster goes bust
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Dear E-Druggers,
Here goes bust another of the “block buster” pharmaceutical research gimmicks!
But don’t fellow E-Druggers smell a rat in the recent spat of these big buck products failing to live up to their claimed promises?
Vioxx bust follows a pattern of events typified as:
1) a new “breakthrough” product is introduced in the market with high claims, very high price and a marketing extravaganza,
2) millions of dollars are pumped into pushing it through the market in the first year of introduction,
3) suspicion about its safety accompany the product right from the start and continue to gather weight,
4) over the next 2-3 years the suspicions strengthens as more evidence emerges,
5) in the next couple of years there is clear evidence of their serious toxicity,
6) scientific, regulatory and citizen groups start to agitate demanding banning of the product and,
7) the company obliges by “withdrawing” the products and posing as responsible corporate citizen. In this drama the company makes big bucks and appears to be the hero at the end!
A few questions come to mind: does the company know, and has indeed planned its marketing that way, right from the beginning the rather short trajectory of the product life cycle? And if so, is it because of an undisclosed and secret knowledge of the problems of product’s safety?
I am wondering if there has been work done to address these and similar questions and if you could indicate some sources of information along those lines.
Kind regards,
Ayyaz Gul Kiani (B.Pharm, MComH-UK)
Director, Health & Development Consultancy Services
Islamabad,
Pakistan
ayyaz_kiani@hotmail.com